It was a beautiful calm, warm night in Fremantle on Friday 29 February, and there was no sheep ship in the port – so the air was fresh.
 
A small group of MG owners were gathered at the entrance to the Bohemia outdoor cinema waiting for the gates to open at 7:30pm so they could eat their picnic tea before the movie.  The group consisted of Forbes and Anne, Brian and Marguerite, Nick and Jackie, Lance and Linda, John and Claire and Phil and Mark.  It should be noted here that Phil was the only person to bring his MG!
 
A few people had trouble parking, as they weren’t locals.  However Brian solved this by parking on the grass at the back of the outdoor cinema.  He was then able to periodically check on the condition of his car by looking through the fence.
 
This small select group of MG owners and Italian movie enthusiasts enjoyed a relaxed picnic on the grass, complete with Jack Johnson music (much to Claire’s delight) and wine and beer, while we waited for the sun to go down and the movie to start.
 
The movie was an Italian movie called Il Mio Miglior Nemico (My Best Enemy).  It was a humorous story of two enemies coming together for the love of one girl – one was her boyfriend, the other, her father.  The movie was subtitled, but this did not detract from it at all.  It was an interesting story, with good touches of humour and with some unexpected twists and turns that you don’t get in the block buster American movies.  The story was well told, with a good message and a happy ending.  It was enjoyed by all.
 
Forbes and Anne Watson

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We met with Mike and Karen at the Old Neeragin Inne, South Western Highway.

Tom and Anne

On a beautifully sunny Sunday in September twelve shiny MGs, of various shapes and sizes, got a chance to display their hidden talents: how economically they could perform under ‘normal’ driving conditions. Not only did the cars get to show off but so did their owners: this was a test of how observant and clever they are!

We were all eager to get started and set off from the Perth Zoo car park at 9.30am and headed south along the Kwinana Freeway. With nothing for the drivers and navigators to do for 33 kilometres but to unwind, chat and check out the route and observation questions ahead, surely no one could go wrong! Seems like one navigator wasn’t able to tell a right arrow from a left arrow and almost proceeded to the hills way ahead of time.

 
Starters gathering at the Perth Zoo car park

But the careful planners had it all worked out with a few pull-over points for such an eventuality. Everyone made their way through the back roads from Mortimer Road to Mandurah Road and it was amazing to see how our ‘city’ is expanding. Along the way there were some clues and this was where the competition got tough. You could tell, because the gaps between the cars got even wider!

The morning tea pit stop at John and Liz Yates place in Mandurah was a welcome break for everyone to catch up for a yarn and a cuppa with some homemade goodies (including that Magic Fruit Cake that should be entered in the Perth Royal Show). 

 
Navigators enjoying a hot drink and laugh at John and Liz’s

According to plan, we all gently headed off in an easterly direction ready to answer more of the bizarre and cryptic clues that the Yates’ had asked. We even passed Abingdon! With one or two detours along the way we managed to pull in at the 53-Mile Roadhouse in Pinjarra to conclude the ‘economy’ part of the trip. You have to imagine the initial thrill that the service station people must have had as they saw 12 cars pull in at once only to find that the sale was between 5.7 and 11 litres each! However, as you know, a crowd draws a crowd and when we left there were heaps of cars pulling in to fuel up. I guess they all thought there was something really special happening at the Pinjarra Roadhouse – Ooops!

“To the pub! To the Pub!”, the cry went up. And 12 shiny MGs headed off up the hill to Dwellingup for a relaxing (okay, we made a lot of noise) lunch. You just can’t beat a roast for $10 or a great choice of “pub grub” on a Sunday afternoon with friends.

Lunch at the Dwelling Pub

John and Liz Yates